THE LAWRENCE DAILY JOURNAL

Lawrence, Kansas

Tuesday, March 10, 1908

HE WAS A WESTERN PIONEER.

Missouri and Kansas Both Knew

Hiram Perkins Vrooman.

Boston, March 10. - Judge Hiram Perkins Vrooman died suddenly at the Springfield hospital, Springfield, Mass., yesterday. He was one of the early pioneers of the Middle West, studied law in Missouri and Kansas and practiced in several parts of each state and adjoining territory. He was a statesman and attorney of national prominence. His second wife was Mrs. E.M. Cady of Kansas, and Kansas is the home of his daughter, Mrs. Regal.

From Missouri, he was a delegate to the republican national convention in Cincinnati in 1876. He was born in New York state in 1828, and lived many years in Macon county, Missouri, and had a large practice there. In 1878, he was a candidate of the Greenback party for chief justice for Kansas. He was also a candidate for lieutenant governor in that state. He has two sons, clergyman, in different parts of the country.

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Judge Vrooman lived in this city [Lawrence] for several years. He was a great student of economical questions and was ever ready with his arguments. He was the father of the Vrooman boys, who cut such a wide swath in Kansas affairs and then transferred their operations to the nation.

Judge Vrooman was a man of kindly disposition and never did anything he did not believe to be right. He had advanced ideas on government and expressed them intelligently.

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THE MACON REPUBLICAN

Macon, Missouri

Saturday, March 14, 1908

DEATH OF JUDGE VROOMAN.

Was a Pioneer and a Prominent

in Missouri and Kansas.

Judge Hiram P. Vrooman died suddenly after a brief illness in the Springfield hospital at Springfield, Mass., aged 80 years. Judge Vrooman's long and active life was largely spent in the West. He was born in Montgomery county, N.Y., in 1828. While a boy, his family moved to Ohio. In 1850, he began the study of the law. He completed his law courses in Michigan and practiced in Monroe county, Michigan, from 1854 to 1866, being at once elected prosecuting attorney on the free soil ticket. In 1866, he removed to Macon. He married Miss Sarah Buffington, daughter of Major H.C. Buffington, deceased, who in 1888 was editor and proprietor of THE MACON REPUBLICAN. Mrs. Vrooman was a sister of Mrs. S.J. Wilson, of this city. In 1868, Mr. Vrooman was appointed by Governor Fletcher, judge of the court of common pleas and in the fall of the same year, he was elected to this position for a term of six years. In that time, he made the unusual record of having but one decision reversed by a higher court.

In 1875, he removed to Kansas and continued to take an active part in politics as a leader in the Greenback party, where he several times made the race for judge of the supreme court and in 1880, for governor.

Judge Vrooman doubtless will be remembered by many of the older citizens of Macon county.

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William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas

SHAWNEE COUNTY

H. P. VROOMAN located at Council Grove, Kan., in May, 1876, remaining there two years and removed to Eureka, at which place he resided until the fall of 1881, when he removed to Topeka. He was born at Johnstown, Montgomery Co., N. Y., July 24, 1828, and with his parents removed to Ohio, locating near Toledo in 1837; in May, 1850, he commenced the study of law; was admitted to the bar in 1854, and in the fall of the same year was elected Prosecuting Attorney for Monroe County, Mich.; he continued his practice in Monroe and Port Huron until 1865, and then removed to Macon County, Mo., where he was appointed Judge of Court of Common Pleas by the Governor of Missouri in the spring of 1868, and elected to the same office the following fall; he resigned this office six years later, and soon afterward removed to Kansas. He was married at Kalamazoo, Mich., February 20, 1862, to Sarah Buffington, daughter of the United States Consul at Chatham, Canada. They have six children, Frank R., Henry C., Walter W., Hiram G., Carl Schurz, and Roy B. Mr. Vrooman is a member of the Congregational Church, and was the national candidate for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas in 1878, and for Governor in 1880.

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79 years.

Married.

Lawyer.

Died - Springfield Hospital.

Residence - Council Grove, Kansas.

Son of John and Mary Bingham Vrooman.

Informant - Rev. Hiram Vrooman, Providence, R.I. - son.

Burial - Greenwood Cemetery, Wocester, Mass.

Information from Massachusetts Death Certificate.